Stories for Kids

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My Book Annie and Koos of the Bushveldt is based on the writings of Nonnie de le Rey whose Book the Wanderings and Trials of a Woman during the Anglo Boer War was published in 1903. This is a diary of her travels with 12 children in two oxen drawn wagons to escape the khaki soldiers who, given the chance, would have interned them in a concentration camp. She was a woman of great strength and resourcefulness and managed to escape capture. She also formed an unusual friendship with Lord Methuen who was responsible for burning her farmhouse. This is highlighted in ch.17. Nonnie, Annie and the General.

Initially this book was intended to give to my grandchildren, who are far removed from their South African heritage, a link to their past. It also highlights the plight of refugees without being at all gruesome.

It is an adventure story so I invite you and your children to get aboard Nonnie’s wagons. Annie and Koos are there sometimes frightened but mostly having a great adventure as they meet with a black mamba snake, a honey bird, a strange ghost, elephants and a comet streaking across the night sky. All the while Koos must hide Cluck, his pet chicken, from Nonnie’s casserole pot.

I hope you enjoy the ride.

Elizabeth

(see my post on the right……. available from Booksellers etc. if you wish to purchase a copy.